Efforts to protect water could be costly

Trying to mitigate the Hewlett Gultch and High Park wildfires’ effects on Greeley’s water supply could be “very costly” if the city doesn’t get federal support.

That was the message Jon Monson, director of the Greeley Water and Sewer Department, delivered to the city’s water and sewer board Wednesday afternoon.

Monson told board members that mitigation efforts are estimated to cost about $1,100 per acre. Those measures include placing straw, also possibly seed, in burned areas to keep ash from running off into the city’s high mountain reservoirs and in to the region’s rivers if rains come in the near future.

Monson said Greeley officials will soon meet with federal authorities from the Natural Resources Conservation Service to get a better idea of how many acres will require mitigation efforts.

More than 65,000 acres have been burned, as Monson explained Wednesday, and taking mitigation measures on just 10 percent of the those acres would cost about $6.6 million.

Monson also said further discussions will be needed before they know how those costs will be divided up among Greeley, other water providers in the region and the federal government.

Monson said the city could get reimbursed by the federal government for up to 75 percent of the costs. Monson said he hopes the city can receive that much in reimbursements, but also acknowledged that the federal government is in a “tight spot” financially.

“We need to take these mitigation measures,” Monson said. “We just don’t know how much it’s going to cost us, and how it will affect our residents.”

The two wildfires west of Fort Collins have damaged the area surrounding the Milton Seaman Reservoir and posed threats to the Bellvue Water Treatment Plant.

However, none of Greeley’s structures in the area have been damaged, Monson added.